Airport City‘s Logical Structure and Spatial Form

March 13, 2021

G+SAAN designers have been studying this economic phenomenon and focused on the design of airports and their surrounding regions. We have been involved in the master plan of many major airports' aviation-led development as well as for the entire region, including Beijing's Daxing Airport, Xi-an International Airport, Wuhu Airport, Datong General Aviation Airport, and finally Ethiopia New Airport.
Our Ring Thoery for Design of Airport City Spatial Forms
We core functionalities such as cargo logistics for the 1st ring layers of XIY's Airport City
The 2nd ring layers include airlines HQ, light industries, etc., for XIY's Airport City
The 3rd ring layers are service facilities and residential communities for XIY's Airport City

For any commercial airport despite its physical size, its surrounding region will directly benefit from the gateway effect it has over the region’s economic well-being. Many people call this catalyst effect “aviation-led development”. For large to mega-size airports, this effect is immense. Hence the terms airport city, airport economic corridor, and even aerotropolis, to exaggerate things a little. No matter what name it is given, the region surrounding an airport will inevitably be greatly impacted by the success of the airport, and for the sake of us planners and architects, by the way how this region is laid out.

SAAN designers have been studying this economic phenomenon and focused on the design of airports and their surrounding regions. We have been involved in the master plan of many major airports’ aviation-led development as well as for the entire region, including Beijing’s Daxing Airport, Xi-an International Airport, Wuhu Airport, Datong General Aviation Airport, and finally Ethiopia New Airport.

Recognizing the importance of the airport engine, we have proposed a ring structure for the logical functionalities and spatial form (see the top diagram on the right). We recommend that the airport city or the airport economic region follow an intelligent strata structure. The center is the airport and feeding off the airport, there should be rings of functional developments that are keenly related to aviation. Growing out from this core, there should be clustering campuses of airline headquarters, along with high-quality businesses and communities, to attract more airlines to join in. Logistics, industry parks, hotels, conference centers, and aviation commerce should form the inner layers, which will support and help the airport become a true gateway for the region.

With the inner functional layers developing, the outer functional layers will spring to life, and once again, feed off aviation, developing into industries, habitats, and healthy urban elements that are economically and spatially integrated with the airport.

As the lifelines of this ring, green spaces, open parks, and farmland, will wave into the residential and commercial parcels being developed as the ring grows, ultimately forming sub-regional centers each with a dynamic core. Using the aviation headquarters base as the western portal, connecting with natural landscapes, stringing together other functional cores of the airport city.

To illustrate our Ring Theory, we have used our design drawings for the Xi-an Airport City master plan. For this gateway airport of the ancient capital city of Xi-an, our strata idea builds up an exciting road map for the new Silk Road, for this future new city, an airport city.